sweet inspiration & fun baking ideas

I’ve been busy working on all kinds of cake pops lately. I think I’ve made close to 40 different variations so far. (Trying to put together a book.) But, since Thanksgiving is just around the corner, I wanted to make sure you don’t have dry turkey on the menu. So, choose a cake and frosting flavor and follow these directions for super moist cake pops. Then, use the following additions to turn them into Turkey Pops. You’ll need chocolate candy coating, almond bark or candy melts for the body. Use extra melted chocolate to “glue” the additions on.

Turkey Feathers = Caramel Candy CornYou can use the original flavor for brighter feathers.

Legs = The “I”s from these ABC Pretzels. (Broken in half)Found at the World Market Chain. But, you can also just use pretzel sticks.These can also be inserted into the Turkey body while the chocolate is still wet.

I had to try these! I used caramels for the heads and just rolled them into balls. It worked great for an alternative to the espresso beans.

I love your website!

November 19, 2008 03:42 AM

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Kristen and Ryan said...

I forgot to mention I was up to 1:30 am making these. Well worth it sooo much fun! Thank you for sharing all of your creative ideas.

November 19, 2008 03:52 AM

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New Kid on the Blog said...

this is my first time here, and got diverted from Pioneer Woman. i am speechless by going thru all the posts that you had posted all these while…

know what? you’re amazing!!! truly amazing!!

November 19, 2008 04:57 AM

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Anonymous said...

I know I’m being a bit demanding but do you have any ideas for Christmas ones? Work party is early this year and I want to make these Christmas themed but can’t think how to decorate them. Yours always look so amazing.

November 19, 2008 01:49 PM

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Kelly said...

I was also diverted her from Thepioneerwoman.com. I saw your beautiful cake photo and clicked! Now I have two blogs i cant live without! Speechless is correct! Wow , you ladies ARE AMAZING!!!. Such an inspiration! Going thru life a single momma to three, I often question who am i and get so wrapped in caring and providing for them, I get lost. You two ladies are a great escape for me. Thank you again.

November 19, 2008 02:38 PM

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Calm In The Kitchen said...

Those look awesome!

November 19, 2008 04:34 PM

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Andrea said...

Found you via The Pioneer Woman, and I love your site! I know that I will be visiting on a regular basis.

BTW, we are H.U.G.E. Dukes of Hazzard fans. My husband and seven year old son like nothing better than to sit down and watch ‘The Dukes’ :)

November 19, 2008 05:24 PM

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Anisah said...

Hi – these look so cute! Do you know of any alternatives for candy corn? (I cannot eat the gelatin that is usually in candy corn).

November 19, 2008 05:28 PM

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Anonymous said...

Just found your site through PW. How can a person print your pages?

November 19, 2008 06:42 PM

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Maggie said...

Came here via pioneer woman and love all the different cake balls. I was trying to make a cake with a shaped pan and it got all stuck and was falling apart, but I didn’t despair and just made some cake balls! They were with strawberry cake and dark chocolate on the outside, they were heaven. Like chocolate covered strawberries.

November 19, 2008 07:29 PM

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-Tee- said...

How do you get your coating so even and smooth? I have tried all kinds of different ways to dip… hands, tongs, dipping forks, mini dipping forks, even toothpicks… It doesn’t come out as even as yours

November 19, 2008 10:06 PM

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Angela said...

Wow great turkeys! Can’t wait to see the book – in your book, your incredible photos are key!

One fun idea for Christmas…

cake balls ornaments – turn a mini reeses cup upside down and add a piece of licorice whip for the hook and cap, maybe some really fine edible glitter so they would sparkle (or really any design or shape would be great).

I always love your designs.Angela

November 19, 2008 10:11 PM

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Bertie said...

Those are so adorable!! I’m so happy I found your site!!

November 19, 2008 10:48 PM

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Skeeto said...

B’ella–You continue to outdo yourself!Thanks for the inspiration!

November 19, 2008 10:49 PM

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wafa said...

Hi Bakerella, U AMAZE me with your creativity everytime. Great idea making a book I’ll be he first to buy it. I was just wondering about the Cute cow cakepops what did you use for the eyes?

November 19, 2008 11:15 PM

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Lil Missy said...

i’m sorry, but those are too cute to eat! good to hear you’re working on a book, you know we’ll all buy it! :)

November 19, 2008 11:48 PM

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shawn + kristyn said...

Bakerella,

I have a question about making the plain cake ball bites and the cake ball pops. I have made the pops that you mold into a cupcake and have been successful. However when trying to do the plain ones the chocolate is not smooth and little pieces broke up into the chocolate. I was wondering if you have any tricks or techniques to cover the whole pop, make them smooth and not messy. Thanks!!!!

November 20, 2008 12:03 AM

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mbc said...

YOU are a newfound favorite. I just discovered you today from Pioneer Woman’s blog and immediately added you to my foodie list.

Creative! Fun! Excellent images!Yeah!!!

November 20, 2008 02:47 AM

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Bakerella said...

Aimée – thanks

Kristen and Ryan – fantastic and I’m glad it was fun for you.

New Kid on the Blog – I’m happy you stopped in.

Anonymous – I do, but I probably won’t post them for a little while. When’s your party?

Kelly – That is so sweet of you. I’m glad my little cake caught your eye. And I love Pioneer Woman. She rocks.

Calm In The Kitchen – thank you

Andrea – YAY and welcome.

Anisah – Someone mentioned they were thinking of using almond slices/ slivers. That could work.

Anonymous – Either click on the story headline and then print. OR if the story/pics is a long one, just copy and paste the text into a word file or email program and print from there. I’mnot as advanced as PW yet.

Maggie – Awesome! Defintely a great use of a not so perfect Cake.

-Tee- – What kind are you trying to make? Balls, pops, or cupcake pops. It’s slightly different for each.

Angela – thanks for the tip

Bertie – me too. welcome.

Skeeto – thanks for saying so.

wafa – the eyes were mini round confetti sprinkles. The container contains multi-colored ones. And I just used the white ones.

Lil Missy – I hope someone will.

shawn + kristyn – use a small deep bowl for the chocolate. make sure your chocolate isn’t too thick. If so, add some paramount crystals or a few drops of veg oil. If they are on a stick, insert the sticks by puttig a little bit of melted choc on the end and stick into the balls. Then place in the freezer to firm up. Take a few out at a time to dip in the chocolate. Try to submerge the entire pop in the chocolate in one movement and remove. You want the chocolate to surround the base where the stick is inserted. When you remove it. Hold it in your left hand and tap your wrist. Rotating as you tap. This will help the excess chocolate fall off and also smooth out the surface.

mbc – Yay! Thanks for stopping in. I’m glad you came by. PW is a fave site of mine and it’s been a huge honor to have her even mention me.

November 20, 2008 03:31 AM

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Jessica said...

You read my mind. I have been thinking of making turkey cake balls for weeks, and these look awesome!

November 20, 2008 04:13 AM

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Marie said...

Thanks for the adorable turkey pops! This is exactly what I pictured you would put out for Thanksgiving!

November 20, 2008 02:01 PM

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Julie said...

Just discovered your site! Fabulous. I’m going to make the yellow cake today.

November 20, 2008 02:35 PM

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Beth Paulson said...

Sooooo excited for your book to come out. Its hard to try to explain in words to people what your cupcake pops look like!

November 21, 2008 12:49 AM

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Shari@Whisk: a food blog said...

You are SO creative!

November 21, 2008 01:21 AM

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Bakerella said...

Jessica – thanks

Marie – glad you like them.

Julie – good. i think you’ll it.

Beth Paulson – yeah, you’re right.

Shari@Whisk: a food blog – thank you!

November 21, 2008 01:46 AM

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sweetmemorymakingmom said...

Those Turkeys are too cute! Love it! hugs, Ellen

November 21, 2008 03:19 PM

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Tabitha (From Single to Married) said...

those look amazing!! so creative!

November 21, 2008 04:07 PM

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jana said...

I can not tell you how cool I think these are! I am going right now to put my Jimmies in clear containers!!

November 22, 2008 02:47 AM

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Bakerella said...

sweetmemorymakingmom- thanks

Tabitha (From Single to Married) – thank you!

jana – Awesome!

November 23, 2008 05:13 AM

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maybe strawberry said...

oh wow!!! these cake pops get more and more amazing!

November 23, 2008 06:33 PM

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Anonymous said...

Bakerella:

You do some amazing things in the kitchen! I’ve never anticipated a book, much less a cook/baking book, more than this. Thanks for all your tips and awesomely creative ideas.

I can’t believe I just found your blog! You are my instant favorite. I was inspired by your Turkey pops and flowered cupcakes from May to make candy turkeys as cupcake toppers. If you want to take a look, you can see my photoblog (it is mostly of my daughter, not my baking). Here they are if you want to take a look. http://www.photoblog.com/mcneme/2008/11/26/turkey-cupcakes.html

I tried these tonight and they are nowhere near as cute as yours (of course I had to alter some ingredients since I couldn’t find everything you used).

I’m hoping you have some ideas rolling in your creative brain for Christmas? I have a Rudolph idea but not sure it’ll work or not.

And I love your blog. Thanks for all these great ideas!

November 27, 2008 04:44 AM

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Cheryl Wray said...

BEYOND cute!

November 27, 2008 04:59 AM

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Panya said...

I discovered your site through The Pioneer Woman, and as soon as I saw these turkey pops, I just had to make them, even though I don't celebrate Thanksgiving myself. I made them for my family yesterday, despite having second degree burns on both of my hands — the entire process took me eight hours! I used big M&Ms for the heads, and pumpkin [!] candies for the wattles, since that's what I had on hand. They turned out looking really awesome, but I also had the gooey-ness problem others have mentioned. I'll definitely make these again [have to come up with something for Hanukkah...], but I'll add much less frosting next time.

Your creations are absolutely brilliant. I have been coming to this blog for a while now, and every time I’m rather surprised with what I find here. You are definitely a creative one!

My sister sent me the link telling me I’d be interested, I’ve been cake decorating for a year now and making desserts really interests me. I’m thinking of making some of these desserts as soon as I’m done this semester of university. Thank you for putting all these recipes up so some of us beginners can give it a shot! =]

P.S – Lovely photography!

November 28, 2008 03:42 PM

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Maomie said...

Wow, can get very very nice and creative ideas from those pics. Lovely!!

November 29, 2008 06:15 AM

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Anisah said...

Thank you for this great idea! I tried it out for thanksgiving and although my chocolate coating technique needs improvement, it was lots of fun! You can see how they turned out here:

These turkeys are gorgeous. Found your site over at Pioneer Woman. So glad I did. I can’t wait to try my hand at these cake pops. I just hope I can find all the necessary ingredients here in Australia. We’ll see. Can’t wait to see what you have in store for Christmas!

November 30, 2008 12:57 PM

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Lisa M. said...

BTW – FYI

Andes Candies, baking chips, work wonders for truffles – I made mint flavored ones a few years back and I am sure they would work for a nice minty flavored candy coating for holiday pops :)

November 30, 2008 02:09 PM

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SarahB said...

Just found your blog today! Yummy! Such great ideas and I’m definitely going to try out some fun new things!

November 30, 2008 06:52 PM

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creativecarryout said...

I am having some major candy melt issues!I’ve tried making your cake bites numerous times, but the candy melt only worked about half the time. I’ve used both the microwave melting method and the double boiler method with mixed results. The most common problem is that instead of the coating turning shiny and hard, it gets mottled and ashy looking, and doesn’t harden up properly.Any help would be really appreciated!

creativecarryout – what brand are you using? Also, make sure you don’t get any water in the chocolate. If it’s too thick, add a few drops of veg oil to help thin it out. And, are you doing it in the microwave at 30 sec intervals stirring in between? Because it can overheat. Let me know if this helps any.

December 1, 2008 12:10 AM

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cakes_are_fun said...

You rock the pops!

December 1, 2008 03:14 AM

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Bakerella said...

Thanks!

December 1, 2008 04:12 AM

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Kim said...

These are totally adorable! When I first saw them I thought the heads were made from Sugar Babies. Espresso beans are wonderful, too! You inspired me!

December 3, 2008 08:35 PM

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Bakerella said...

Thanks Kim

I had never really had expresso beans before and I amost didn’t have enough to decorate with because I kept sneaking them.

December 5, 2008 05:56 AM

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Kim said...

I wouldn’t be safe around them either. Love everything coffee!!

December 5, 2008 09:48 PM

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creativecarryout said...

Thanks for the tips on candy melts…. as soon as I read your response I realized that I must have been overheating them. I made a batch today and they turned out perfectly. :) Finally, sweet success….literally!Thanks again for the help!

umm…so im making these right now…haha umm lets just say…mine do not look like yours! getting the chocolate to spread around them and dry even is hard! mine are still really cold so they harden really fast…but i think that might not be a super good thing…they taste fantastic though. I made a cow too…with cut slices of mini marshmellows… lol he looks funny too.

The mini hearts and orange chips can be found at http://www.cakeart.com. The mini hearts are in the “poker shapes” and the beak is the “rainbow candy coated chips”.

The carmel candy corn can be found at RiteAid or probably any other chain pharmacy.

I’m planning to use a pumpkin or spice cake to keep them in the season.

Thanks Bakerella for making home cooks seem exotic!

November 2, 2009 11:24 PM

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Andrea said...

I just ordered some espresso beans from nuts online, and they also had some great malted milk balls in a nice color. I figure those will work for the little kids who may not be so pleased to bite into an espresso bean!

The candy coated sprinkles I was able to find in the Wilton aisle at Michaels Craft store, but I’m still on the search for heart sprinkles (my daughter got hold of mine last year and sprinkled mine liberally on the loving room carpet!)

I’m all geared up, and in true baking geek fashion am counting down the days until I cane make these little guys!

MISS LANA YOU CAN BE VERY VERY ADDICTIVE.I LOVE YOUR WEB SITE.AND CHRISTMAS JUST GOT ALOT CHEAPER.THANKS FOR SUCH A SWEET WEBSITE. LOL BEC

November 20, 2009 03:05 PM

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rooster said...

i am so upset! i was alomst done making these. The house i live in (my inlaws) is disgusting, full of junk and the freezer is disgusting. When i was trying to manuever things around to fit them in the freezer, they fell all on the floor. If it were any other floor, i may have been able to salvage them. Because my floor would be clean! but their floor is disgusting! I am just so mad. Oh well, guess i’ll try again.

November 22, 2009 10:20 PM

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Michelle said...

These are adorable. I attempted to make them however mine just made me say a lot of words that were not so nice. I think I may have put to much icing in the cake because once I dipped them in the chocolate the stick went out the top of the ball. I also had trouble with my chocolate not being smooth, I used almond bark. I ended up with lumpy frumpy turkeys. I will keep trying until I get it. Any hints will help and be greatly appreciated. Happy Thanksgiving.

November 24, 2009 02:02 PM

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Tami said...

A friend forwarded me your site a few days ago & I just had to try these cuuute turkeys! My 5 yr old son & I made them for his class & our Thanksgiving dinner. We used milk duds for the head & upside down red Christmas tree confetti for the waddle & they turned out really cute (for our first try – even with lumpy chocolate)! My son is so excited to give these away! Thanks for the great idea! We can’t wait to try more.

Michelle – make sure the chocolate is thin enough before you start dipping and also that your balls are round and smooth before you start. The balls will need to be firm when you dip. Also don’t stir. Dip and remove in one motion making sure to cover the entire pop.

November 25, 2009 07:21 PM

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Cheyenne said...

These are so cute! My first attempt with cake pops I also took my first stab at homemade icing which I didn’t realize made 3 cups instead of the 2 that are in commercial icing. Luckily I had some chocolate cherry cupcakes sitting around to add in. I don’t like expresso beans, so I’m using Sugar Babies. Thanks for being so creative!

November 26, 2009 11:01 AM

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Jay said...

Michelle- I actually use 12-13 oz of icing (I weighed it), not the whole tub and it makes the cake firmer. Also, I pre-dip my sticks in whatever chocolate I’m using before I put them in the balls. After it hardens, they they won’t slide off.
Make sure that the balls are not too cold before you coat them or the chocolate will crack. I use Merckens chocolate and I wouldn’t use anything else.

how on earth do you transport these? i spent hours and hours and hours making 58 of these. In fact i made 2 other people sit and work with me. had them all finished and pretty stuck into their foam cores and loaded into a metal pan deep enough to support the foam. it was disaster. Turkey massacre! The first giggle had whole pieces of foam popping out of the pan and the ones that made it to the are giggled themselves off of their sticks with the vibrations from the cars motion. It was such a sad sad day. Out of 58 only 1 made it to its destination on its stick and still whole. :-(

I just made some of these but didn’t have any cake, orange beak thingies, or espresso beans. So I used marshmallows, peanut butter whoppers, and an orange candy writing pen. They’re too stinkin’ cute! I wish I could take a picture, but my husband has the camera at work! Thanks for the inspiration, bakerella!

I’m going to try these with my kids and nieces/nephews this Thanksgiving. They range in age from 2-10. I don’t expect the 2 yr old will be much help, but the rest will enjoy it (my 4 yr old helped me with pumpkin pops for Halloween and was pretty darned good at it), and even if they aren’t cute, they will taste good. Thinking of using sugar babies as the heads b/c I’m not feeding the kids espresso beans!! I’ll let you know how it goes. :)

I am preparing to make these for my daughter’s preschool class snack on Monday (her birthday is Tuesday). I am going to go with pretzel sticks and use the new pretzel m&ms in brown for the faces…hoping it will turn out great. Any tip for the eyes since it will be on dark chocolate?

November 17, 2010 02:39 PM

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Madi said...

I have just made them and my family LOVES them.

November 19, 2010 08:07 PM

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Baking Up Love said...

Omg.. You continue to amaze me!!! These pops are to cute! I am so making these for my guests on Thanksgiving. You are such a baking idol. Truly! :)

I HATE to bake, but whenever I see anything made by the SPECTACULAR Bakerella I start to wish I LOVED it! Everything you do is beyond my wildest when it comes to cake pops!! Love it all and the turkeys are perfect! Will be sharing this on my blog http://www.lilbuckaroodesigns.com! Thank you!!!

I am so amazed what you can do with the left over cake. I am just starting out makeing cakes. And now i’m going to go and try and find your book here in Canada this will be an awsome addition to my web sight ty so much you a a very good teacher Berlynda.

September 27, 2011 02:26 PM

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ari said...

hi im 13 and a baking freak! today i went to joanns and saw your cake pops book. i almost died and begged my mom to get it for mee! i already started on the robots and so far they look awesome! and the turkeys… r to die for… <3

October 8, 2011 08:33 PM

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Kathryn said...

I Love Your Turkeys! Gobble, Gobble!!!

November 3, 2011 01:33 PM

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Hannah said...

One more delicious cake pop, I’ll DIE!!!! Too cute and I really want to make them!!